Glass 
Book 




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THE 

EULOGY 

OF 

MAXIMILIAN DE BETHUNE 

DUKE OF SULLY, 

SUPERINTENDANT OF FINANCE, $c. 

AND 

Urime JBiutetet to Hjettrg ti&e dFouttft, 

^ TRANSLATED FROM THE FRENCH 



f ' M., THOMAS. 






TO WHICH ARE ADDED, 

HISTORICAL ILLUSTRATIONS, 

BY THE TRANSLATOR. 
The Eulogy gained the prize of the French Academy in 1763. 



CHELTENHAM : 
PRINTED FOR THE AUTHOR, BY J. J. HADLEY, 

AND SOLD AT THE RESPECTIVE LIBRARIES AND READING ROOMS, 
AND BY ALL BOOKSELLERS. 

1826. 






By Transfer 



HISTORICAL ILLUSTRATIONS 

OF THE 

EULOGY 

OF 

MAXIMILIAN DE BETHUNE 

Duke of Sully. 



Were the records of history, or the 
imagery of fiction to be searched for a 
character which would present to the 
mind the contemplation of all that is 
great and good, it would linger on that 
page of the annals of France, which is 
consecrated to the remembrance of the 
virtuous friend and minister of Henry 
the Fourth. But I will not anticipate 
his Eulogy, if indeed the matter of fact of 
his life which tends to the illustration of 
his eloquent panygerist, be not its anti- 
cipation. 

B 



Next to the glory of having created 
an illustrious name, by deeds which 
render it dear and venerable to mankind, 
is that of having transmitted to posterity 
with added laurels, the wreath of well 
earned fame, that has adorned a remote 
ancestry. Such distinction most pecu- 
liarly belongs to that individual of the 
House of Bethune, who, to the warlike 
memory of its gallant crusaders, its royal 
alliances with the Sovereigns of France, 
the Emperors of Constantinople, the 
Kings of Jerusalem, Castile, Scotland, 
and England, the House of Austria, the 
Dukes of Lorraine, the Counts of Flan- 
ders ; its intermarriages with the houses 
of Courtenay, Chatillon, Montmorency, 
Melun and Horn, added to the accu- 
mulated virtues and glories of his race, 
a title more dear and distinguished the 
BENEFACTOR OF HIS COUNTRY. 

An example more extraordinary than 
that of military achievement, or political 
successes, or judicious government, is 



afforded in the association of the name 
of Sully with that of his royal master; of 
friendship on a throne. Tried and tender 
it dawned in adversity from mutual ad- 
miration, it was matured in persevering 
loyalty under various fortune; in the 
height of favour and prosperity unde- 
based by flattery or exaction; virtuous 
and heroic in the subject, in the amiable 
great, but imperfect monarch; confiding 
and energetic, it was perhaps the only 
true blessing enjoyed by Henry in a 
reign more fruitful in happiness to his 
people than to himself, the root of which 
infelicity may be found in those errors 
and weaknesses of the man which yet in 
justice ought not to tarnish the glories of 
the sovereign. 

The friendship of Henry IV. and Sully 
is one of the most beautiful delineations 
presented by history. Born in 1560, the 
eldest son of the Baron de Rosni, and 
Charlotte Dauvet; nursed amid the tu- 
mults of civil dissensions and the atroci- 



8 



ties of faction, Sully was only eleven 
years of age when he was presented to 
the King of Navarre, then only eighteen. 
The noble child bent his knee to his new 
master, and in a better spirit than young 
Hannibal, vowed not eternal enmity but 
eternal attachment. The force of this 
promise was at the moment little heeded, 
but in after days, at the most critical con- 
junctures, Sully sealed it with his blood, 
his counsels and his possessions. In 
1585, when the Calvinists endeavoured 
to turn France into a republic, Sully 
maintained the necessity of union under 
one head, to give energy to any legisla- 
tion ; though he had embraced the re- 
formed religion his impartial and pene- 
trating mind rejected the alloy which 
selfish passions and crafty ambition had 
too fatally blinded with a good cause. 
Undeviating in his personal integrity to 
the opinions he had adopted on convic- 
tion, he steered clear of the fanaticism 
of religious faction, which had caused 
his wretched country to bleed in every 



9 



pore ; he preferred the public good to the 
predominance of any party, and religious 
truth in general, to the arrogant preten- 
sions of individual leaders. In 1592 he 
leaned to the Counsels, which determined 
Henry to profess the Catholic faith ; con- 
vinced that salvation was attainable in it, 
and probably anticipating the extinc- 
tion of both religion and morality in a 
continuation of the disgraceful scenes 
which were enacted on either side in the 
name of Heaven. The principles of uni- 
versal toleration, with which he imbued 
the Government of Henry, were more 
consonant to the true interests of the re- 
formed religion than the fierce and un- 
holy contentions which at that period 
possibly retarded its diffusion in France. 
Had the system of toleration which Sully 
introduced been adhered to, the silent 
force of truth might have gained the 
conquest which the force of arms failed 
to establish ; and be it observed, it was 
the reign of false glory and licentious 
pleasure, changed to gloomy bigotry and 



10 



illiberal superstition, which under Louis 
XIV. revoked the famous edict of Nantz, 
deprived France of the most conscientious 
portion of its subjects, and left the com- 
munity no tone and moderating power to 
check the torrent of infidelity and false 
philosophy which, in succeding times, 
overthrew all that was left of religion in 
France, made vice and anarchy triumph- 
ant, celebrate their orgies on the dowfall 
of the Church and State. That patriot- 
ism alone outweighed with Sully the pre- 
dominance of the party in religion to 
whose opinions he had attached himself, 
is proved by his sacrifice of every private 
interest to his religious integrity ; he re- 
fused the alliance of his royal master's 
daughter with his own son, that the re- 
formed faith might unalterably be pre- 
served in his house and lineage; thus de- 
voting to the cause all the glory of the 
name of Sully. In 1604 he prepared a 
memorial, the object of which was to 
unite the Protestants and Catholics in 
one view of religious truth ; if he had 



11 



succeeded, what tears and blood might 
have been spared. 

The memorable assembly of the Pro- 
testants at Chatelleraut in 1605, placed 
Sully in the most delicate circumstances. 
Never was a greater mark of confidence 
bestowed by his master than his appoint- 
ment as President, and when we consider 
that he was himself a Protestant, his en- 
lightened zeal and his loyalty seem 
strangely opposed, and his situation re- 
plete with danger and difficulty. The 
line of conduct to which he determined 
to adhere, was, neither to betray his reli- 
gion or his Prince ; he pursued it with 
undeviating intregrity. His wisdom was 
conspicuous throughout the proceedings 
of this perilous assembly, in which Mor- 
nay with blind and impetuous zeal, 
enacted the part of an enthusiast, ever 
ready to place arms in the hands of fana- 
tical and rebellious subjects. Sully pre- 
sided in two similar assemblies, that of 
Rochelle, in 1607, and that of Gergeau, 



12 



in 1608; in both he rendered the most 
essential service to the King and the 
State. 

It is hardly possible to conceive the 
cabals which Henry had to crush in his 
own party. Every head was turned by 
fanaticism and ambition ; and Sully was 
equally useful in battle as in negociation. 
In 1594 he left the siege of Laon to quell 
in Paris the disturbances on the subject of 
the Jesuits. 

During the childhood of Sully six 
pitched battles had been fought between 
the Protestants and the Catholics. The 
massacre of St. Bartholomew, more de- 
structive than ten battles, disgraced France 
in 1592. Sully, then twelve years of age, 
had been educated in the Protestant faith. 
He studied in the College of Burgundy, 
but did not live there. At midnight he 
was awakened by all the bells in Paris, 
and the confused uproar of the populace, 
and was no sooner informed of its cause 



13 



than he resolved to take refuge in the 
College; he put on his scholar's habit, 
and placed a Catholic prayer-book under 
his arm. When he entered the streets 
they were inundated with blood, he be- 
held the furious soldiery breaking into 
the houses, and heard the terrific cry : 
" Kill, kill the Huguenots." His alarm 
increasing, he redoubled his speed ; three 
bands of soldiers stopped him succes- 
sively, and each time he owed his safety 
to the book he carried. New perils as- 
sailed him when he reached the College 
of Burgundy : the porter twice refused 
him entrance, and left him in the streets 
at the mercy of the assassins. Happily 
the Principal of the College was apprised 
of his danger ; this worthy man did not 
consider assassination to be a religious 
duty. He took young Rosni into his own 
apartment : two priests were there, who, 
citing the example of the Sicilian Vespers, 
would have murdered him on the spot, 
alledging, that the edict commanded even 
nurslings to be put to death. The Prin- 



14 



cipal with difficulty rescued him from 
their fury and conveyed him to a closet, 
in which he locked him. 

On how - ender threads do the desti- 
nies of nations hang ! Henry narrowly 
escaped the same day ! The charitable 
priest who saved the life of Sully when he 
was twelve years old, little thought he had 
rescued the deliverer of France. 

The civil war, which seemed crushed 
by the massacre of St. Bartholomew was 
renewed in 1574, but the King of Na- 
varre did not recover his liberty till 1576. 
Rosni accompanied him in his flight; he 
entered the infantry as a volunteer and 
made his first Campaign at Tours, when 
he greatly signalized himself. The King 
of Navarre having learnt that he had con- 
ducted himself with more valour than 
prudence, sent for him and thus addressed 
him : " Rosni, I do not wish you now to 
hazard your life, preserve it for a more 
glorious occasion." He was often in 



15 



peril in the various actions which fol- 
lowed : at the siege of Marmande, where 
he commanded the archers ; he was 
nearly overpowered by the superiority 
of numbers, when the Ku J of Navarre 
in a slight coat of mail, flew to his assist- 
ance, and gave him time to seize the post 
he assailed. 

Young Rosni's economy and the mi- 
litary earnings of this campaign, enabled 
him to maintain several gentlemen as his 
followers, with whom he attached him- 
self more immediately to the service of 
the King. Though only sixteen years 
of age, he managed his income with such 
economy that he was enabled to keep up 
an appearance beyond his fortune. The 
King of Navarre remarked it and con- 
ceived a high esteem for him in conse- 
quence. Mankind in general do not 
discern great characters by trivial marks, 
but the King of Navarre possessed this 
penetration, and perhaps already antici- 



16 



pated a Prime Minister in the young 
Ensign. 

Henry, King of Navarre, who, with 
the assistance of Sully, so greatly im- 
proved the condition of the French peo- 
ple, was his senior by seven years. Born 
in 1553, at Pau, in Beam, he was brought 
up in a castle among rocks and moun- 
tains. His usual diet was brown bread, 
cheese, and beef. He often went with 
his head and feet uncovered. This mas- 
culine education doubtless imparted to 
his soul its vigorous temper, and made 
him a great man. It were to be wished 
that such examples could be imitated in 
our times. Luxury, the prevailing error 
of modern education, by enervating the 
bodily frame, destroys the principle of 
energetic conduct, and, if we may so ex- 
press it, stifles the soul before it can 
expand into existence. 

In a sketch which merely illustrate* 



17 



the Eulogy of Sully, it is needless to de- 
tail the various actions in which he sig- 
nalised himself and did justice to the 
choice of his royal master. The military 
achievements of those times were of so 
wonderful a character, that they appear 
as deeds of ancient chivalry, when com- 
pared with the events of modern warfare. 
The soul of Henry IV. inspired his whole 
army, and gave a lofty character to his 
cause which hlended interest with the 
horrors and atrocities of civil and reli 
gious dissensions. 

A few traits will sanction this remark. 
At the battle of Arques, Henry, at the 
head of three thousand men, encountered 
the Duke of Mayenne, at the head of 
thirty thousand ; but convinced that a 
brilliant stroke was required to raise his 
party, never did he appear more tranquil 
and serene. A few moments previous to 
the attack, a prisoner of distinction being 
brought to him, the King met and em- 
braced him, smiling ; he testified to the 



18 



King his astonishment at the small num- 
ber of soldiers of which his army was 
composed. " You see not my whole 
forces," replied the King, with the ut- 
most cheerfulness, " you have omitted 
in your reckoning God and my good 
cause." After this famous victory, he 
wrote to the Duke de Crillon this memo- 
rable letter: — " Brave Crillon, hang thy- 
self — thou wert absent when we fought 
the battle of Arques." Before this de- 
cisive day, he said he was a King without 
a kingdom, a husband without a wife, 
and a warrior without supplies. 

At the siege of Rouen, Rosni and the 
Marshal de Biron differed in opinion. 
Biron^s prevailed. Rosni was also ex- 
cluded from a post he was desirous to 
obtain in the artillery, and which he so- 
licited with the ardour of a man anxious 
to be useful ; but his talents had already 
made him obnoxious to several of his in- 
feriors, who by artifice obtained his ex- 
clusion. But he had the glory of being 



19 



foremost in all the perils to which Henry 
was exposed ; in the attack of the trenches 
in a cold night in December, he was 
twice thrown down, his armour forced 
off and broken. The impetuous valour 
of Henry had exposed him to such dan- 
gers in this action that his life was des- 
paired of. The next day Rosni was the 
bearer of the representation of the army 
on this subject ; the King interrupted 
him with these words : " My friend, 
how can I act otherwise when I fight for 
my glory and my crown. My life and 
every other advantage are dust in the 
balance." 

At the siege of Dreux, a fort was to 
be taken which was considered cannon- 
proof. Rosni promised the King that it 
should surrender. His enemies dared to 
assert that this promise was ridiculous. 
The King himself doubted of his success ; 
yet by mine and sap Rosni succeeded in 
six days. By the care and vigilance of 
Rosni, the army wanted for nothing. 



20 



Montmelian passed for being impreg- 
nable ; there were persons in the Council 
who dreaded the success of Rosni as much 
as the Duke of Savoy himself. Zeal at 
length overcame envy ; Rosni attacked 
Charbonnieres, a place of nearly equal 
strength, and situated on an inaccessible 
rock. He endured incredible fatigue, 
and promised the king that the place 
should surrender the next day. While he 
exposed his life, the courtiers were em- 
ployed in censuring his operations, one 
of them boasted that if he were in the 
place it should not be taken for a month ; 
" Go then," said Sully, wearied with his 
impertinence, " you and your colleagues, 
enter it, and if I do not have you all 
hanged before evening, call me a fool." 

Before evening the garrison surren- 
dered!!! 

At the battle of Ivri, in 1590, Sully 
had two horses killed under him, re- 
ceived seven wounds, and fainted on 



21 



the field ; when he revived he found him- 
self disarmed, surrounded by the dead, 
and without a follower ; he thought the 
battle was lost, when four of the enemy 
surrendered to him as prisoners, and im- 
plored him to save their lives. Sully 
was carried on a hurdle made of branches 
of trees to his Castle of Rosni, with the 
prisoners, the enemies 5 colours drooping 
round him, and his brave soldiers co- 
vered with honourable wounds. Henry 
hastened to meet the cavalcade, and more 
as a friend than a king, testified the ten- 
derest anxiety for his recovery. Rosni 
thanked him and said it raised him in 
his own opinion to have suffered for so 
good a master. Henry replied, " brave 
soldier and valiant knight : I ever ho- 
noured your courage, and conceived high 
hope of your virtue ; but your noble 
achievements and distinguished modesty 
surpass my expectation. Before I leave 
you I must embrace you in the presence 
of these princes, great captains, and wor- 
thy knights." So saying, he clasped him 



22 



in his arms, and lavished many more af- 
fecting expressions of his regard, and 
bade him adieu, adding " Above all, re- 
member you have a good master." 

By his superior knowledge of man- 
kind, Sully was enabled to hold his vir- 
tuous course till resistance gave way to 
the energetic courage that shaped the re- 
formation of long-standing abuses: faction 
bowed to power or was conciliated by 
magnanimity. He possessed the pene- 
tration and coolness which are necessary 
to acquire true judgment of men and 
measures. The King of Navarre had 
placed him in the Court of Catherine de 
Medicis, to unravel its crooked policy ; 
he there beheld the talented and fasci- 
nating Italian apparently immersed in 
pleasures, but busied in external political 
intrigues ; to the varied hues of the ser- 
pent, its poisonous subtilty, its inveterate 
cruelty, its innate grovelling propensities, 
the manners, mind and character of this 
Queen, may be justly assimilated. Rosni 



23 



silently observed her tortuous course, the 
withering influence by which she imbued 
the heart and government of her son with 
her own vices ; the luxurious splendour 
of her polished court. Even the generous 
soul of Henry IV. was tainted with the 
prevailing vice of gallantry, to the detri- 
ment of his subsequent career, which 
might otherwise in private as well as 
public life have passed down to posterity 
with unsullied glory and undiminished 
felicity. To the penetrating eye of Rosni 
and to his more exquisite moral discri.- 
mi nation, all the objects which dazzled 
and seduced the other members of the 
court appeared in their true colours. 
The popularity of the Guises did not 
efface in his estimation the tyranny by 
which it wa$ upheld ; its fatal termination 
might be anticipated in the extreme and 
hazardous measures to which imperious 
favourites were ever impelling this ambi- 
tious and ill-fated race. The King inertly 
allowed the formation of the league, 
which, when authorised by his weakness, 



24 



spread around him the toils from which 
he vainly endeavoured to extricate him- 
self. Rosni transmitted exact relations 
of the state of affairs to Henry, and when 
Henry III. declared himself chief of the 
league which was formed to dethrone 
him, Rosni addressed himself to those 
Frenchmen in whom the spirit of loyalty 
and patriotism was not wholly extin- 
guished on this critical occasion. In 
1588, after the Barricades, that memo- 
rable instance of audacity in the subject 
and weakness in the King, Rosni's master 
directed him to watch the motions of the 
Count of Soissons and observe the new 
system that was about to be adopted at 
Court. Thus did Sully acquire his su- 
perior knowledge of mankind : thus, in 
fact, can such a study only be pursued. 
It is in stormy times, in the shock of 
factions amid contending interests, by 
the crimes and virtues peculiar to such 
conjunctures, that the characteristics of 
the species are displayed. In peace an 
uniform tenor of action obliterates the 



25 



energetic traits of character, or blends in 
uniformity the mask that covers the face 
of society. After this notice of the school 
in which Sully was formed, his character 
breaks on the mind in its native force and 
originality, uncorrupted and undeceived 
by false maxims, or devious practice. 
His policy was undebased by artifice ; in- 
genious but not false, virtuous but not 
rigid ; it was the policy of integrity, 
which always adheres to iruth, and pos- 
sesses that place in the public esteem 
which induces confidence. 

Nothing but evil can be made to pre- 
vail without contradiction ; let him who 
would benefit mankind be prepared for 
opposition. That courage which shrunk 
not in the bloody field, when opposed to 
unequal numbers, maintained unshaken 
its moral strength in the more difficult 
combat which awaited Sully in his attack 
of the prejudices, passions and vices, 
which distorted the Government of 
France, when, as Superintendant of Fi- 



26 



nance, this branch of political economy 
was placed immediately under his cog- 
nizance. In his administration, we may 
particularly remark that ascendancy which 
the man of genius ever gains over weak 
characters and paltry aims. To appre- 
ciate what Sully performed in the amelio- 
ration of this branch of legislation, it is 
necessary to notice the prevailing fea- 
tures of the character of his predecessor 
under Henry III. and in the commence- 
ment of the reign of Henry IV. Francis 

D'O had precisely the faults which 

should have excluded him from a similar 
post; — indolent, dissipated, a gamester, 
immersed in pleasures. Vainly ostenta- 
tious of his absurd prodigality, refusing 
no indulgence to himself, while the King 
wanted common necessaries. Such was 
the man to whom the superintendance of 
finance was intrusted ; he died in 1794, 
with a fortune amounting to four millions, 
leaving a national debt of eight hundred 
and ten millions. 



27 



At his death the superintendancy was 
suppressed, and the king appointed a 
Council of Finance, composed of eight 
individuals. Sully did not approve of 
this mode of administration, because it 
is more difficult to find ten persons of 
integrity than one. His opinion was too 
well justified in the sequel. Robbery 
and dissipation flourished more vigor- 
ously under the eight commissioners than 
before. The King begged eight hundred 
crowns from them, to maintain the siege 
of Arras, as a beggar implores the assist- 
ance of a rich man without being able to 
obtain them. This good Prince thus 
described his situation to Sully in a letter : 
" I am close to the enemy and have not 
a horse to bear me into battle ; my shirts 
are worn out, and my waistcoats darned 
at the elbow, and I dine alternately 
with my officers because my purveyors 
have no provisions for my own table." 
Yet the eight commissioners revelled in 
luxury, and insulted the public misery. 



28 



It is humiliating to humanity that a 
great man is ever exposed to the attacks 
of those who envy him. Never did any 
one suffer more from them than Sully. 
His merit might have been pardoned, but 
what was unpardonable was the unlimited 
confidence of his master. Women, cour- 
tiers, ministers, all leagued against him ; 
it is memorable that this faithful servant 
and tender friend, was on the point of 
being disgraced fifteen times. Every 
year this persecution was renewed. The 
Catholics were jealous of the favour be- 
stowed on a Huguenot, the Protestants 
envied the justice done to his merit. To 
such a height were these jealousies car- 
ried, that Henry and Sully agreed to bear 
themselves towards each other in public 
very distantly: often did the King visit 
him privately, but on these occasions the 
most delightful familiarity characterised 
their intimacy. This Prince required 
not adversity to soften his heart, but he 
imparted all its bitterness in his letters to 



29 



Sully, which amount to above three thou- 
sand. He took the most lively interest 
in his domestic affairs, and in their res- 
pective sorrows they experienced mutual 
consolation from the tender friendship 
with which each endeavoured to alleviate 
the misfortunes of the other. The noble 
frankness with which Sully warned Henry 
of his faults is well known ; he exercised 
the same watchfulness over his master as 
over his own bosom. When he tore the 
marriage promise extorted from his sus- 
ceptible master, Henry asked him if he 
were mad ; " Yes, truly," replied Sully, 
" and would to God I were the only 
madman in France." 

Sully beheld with due affliction, the 
demoralization which attended the ruin- 
ous state of finances. He had the princi- 
ples of the ancient legislators ; he would 
have been Lycurgus at Sparta, and Cato 
at Rome. How remote are such princi- 
ples from our modern ways of thinking. 
With short sighted policy we nicely cal- 

E 



30 



culate the benefits a state may derive 
from population, commerce and industry, 
but morals are passed over. We exclaim 
that mankind are become degenerate, and 
what can we expect but degeneracy when 
gold is regarded as our best possession. 
A mercenary spirit has annihilated every 
noble principle ; every thing, even virtue 
has its price; and a good action is no 
sooner performed, than its salary is de- 
manded. This is the root of destruction. 
With the downfall of morals the downfall 
of the State is inseparably connected. — 
Let gold and honour be restored to their 
separate degree of estimation. This vile 
metal narrows the soul : honour and es- 
teem elevates it. The wise minister of 
Henry IV. was indignant at seeing the 
nobility of his day coveting independence 
and authority, during the civil wars, and 
in peace dazzled by the luxury of the 
merchants, so mean as to have no other 
emulation than to obtain riches. With 
what eloquence does he expatiate in his 
memoirs, on luxury, on frivolity of man- 



31 



ners, and the value which our vain pas- 
sions have affixed to gold; on the decay of 
the ancient spirit of honour, the confusion 
of ranks, the illegitimacy of blood, and 
the inherent superiority of the generous 
races of the nobility and gentry over the 
mere monied men, the line of separation 
which ought to subsist between these two 
orders of citizens, that the example of 
opulent leisure may not strike too nearly 
those whose duty it is to be employed in 
war, and to devote themselves by energetic 
labours and painful sacrifices to the ser- 
vice of the King and the State. His 
style is on this topic instinct with life and 
energy ; he feels the transports of virtue, 
his austere and noble soul, attacks vice 
with the same energy with which he at- 
tacked the enemy in the day of battle. 
Such episodes, though less agreeable than 
those of modern memoirs, are more use- 
ful ; they have the beauty and utility 
which belong to our ancient medals. 

Sully became Minister of Finance in 



32 



1595. The King died in 1610. During 
the interval of fifteen years, although 
Sully had diminished the taxes five mil- 
lions, and paid the national debt, amount- 
ing to three thousand and ten millions, he 
had augmented the annual revenue four 
millions, and placed in the King's coffers 
in money and credit forty-one millions. 
He opposed all the efforts that were made 
by the interested in every department to 
avoid giving a strict account of their of- 
ficial conduct, repelled the insolence of 
the powerful, and personally inspected 
throughout the provinces, the specula- 
tions of their agents. During the ad- 
ministration of Sully, speculators were 
depressed. He encouraged learning, 
gave pensions to its professors, and in 
particular to Causaubon, who was the 
greatest scholar of his time. He had the 
difficult task of restraining the violence 
of party spirit in two rival religions; of 
quelling the fanaticism which was not 
yet wholly extinguished, and soothing 
the expiring struggles of a powerful 






33 



party which had long agitated France. 
The army was regularly paid, the cities 
adorned with public buildings and useful 
establishments, manufactures encouraged, 
and above all, agriculture, which Sully 
regarded as the prime source of a nation's 
prosperity, was improved in all its 
branches, by the liberal encouragement 
afforded to it. 

Sully himself has left us a sketch of 
his life during his ministry. He rose at 
four in summer and in winter : employed 
two hours in reading and replying to the 
memorials placed on his table ; at half- 
past six he dressed and attended the 
council, which sat from seven till ten, and 
sometimes till eleven ; he passed the rest 
of the morning with the King, who gave 
him directions for the different depart- 
ments of the administration, and then 
returned to dine ; the simplicity of his 
table was little admired by the courtiers: 
when reproached with it, he replied, " If 
my guests are wise, they will be satisfied : 



34 



if they are otherwise, I can dispense with 
their company." After dinner he gave a 
regular audience, to which every one, 
even the meanest peasant, was admitted. 
The audience was impartial ; Sully gave 
every one a prompt answer, and was thus 
occupied till the hour of his evening re- 
past ; then the doors were closed, he took 
leave of business, and enjoyed the society 
of a few friends. He usually went to rest 
at ten o'clock, and when any unforeseen 
event retarded the dispatch of business, 
he stole from sleep the time necessary 
for its completion. 

The conduct of Sully in the domestic 
relations of life are not irrelevant to his 
public character ; the intimate sentiments 
of the human soul evince its latent ten- 
dencies, and the virtues which render 
the individual fit to be entrusted with the 
welfare of a nation, will first find exercise 
in the exemplary fulfilment of private du- 
ties. This virtue is distinct from mere ta- 
lent, which may exist in union with many 



35 



vices. As a son, a father and a husband, 
Sully was as justly dear to his family, as 
he was to his Royal master: and the 
happy people who owned his benevolent 
and enlightened sway. It is true that the 
courtiers, the ladies and the ministers often 
endeavoured to deprive him of Henry's 
well-bestowed confidence, and it is dis- 
graceful to human nature that envy worked 
sosuccessfullyon fifteen different occasions 
as nearly to effect his disgrace ; on these 
occasions, Sully calmly pursued his un- 
sullied career, and disdaining other justi- 
fication, left the issue to the penetrating 
mind and grateful heart of his friend, 
which were too well in accordance with 
his own to remain long open to the mean 
and sinister suggestions of the enemies of 
virtue, which they could neither imitate 
or successfully oppose. On the most me- 
morable of these occasions, Henry, after 
three months passed in constraint and 
coldness, no longer able to endure the 
torments of mistrust, sent for Sully, and, 
after a full explanation, in which his in- 



36 



nocence was clearly proved, the generous 
monarch presented his faithful minister 
to the envious throng, with these wither- 
ing words : " I desire to make vou tho- 
roughly aware that I love Rosni more 
than ever, and desire to be served no 
better than I have ever been during his 
administration." 

After the assassination of Henry, in 
1610, measures were entirely changed ; the 
old methods of oppressing the people and 
enriching individuals were resorted to. 
Sully, indignant, tendered his resigna- 
tion ; but his family, well pleased with 
his official situation, for a time retarded 
his retreat. At length, weary of the mean 
and impolitic conduct of which he was a 
daily witness, he disdained to lend it his 
sanction, and retired to his estates.. The 
public favour followed him, when he left 
Paris three hundred horsemen escorted 
him ; it was the triumph of injured virtue. 
The Queen, in consideration of his ser- 
vices, sent him a grant of one hundred 



37 



thousand crowns ; it appeared to be the 
price of his resignation, and it would ill 
have become Sully to accept it ; he ac- 
cordingly refused it. They then endea- 
voured to accomplish his ruin by bring- 
ing him to trial; and he, who had for 
twenty years absolutely devoted himself 
to the service of the state, was called on 
for his justification. He wrote to the 
Queen, who spared the nation this insult 
to its feelings. Such proceedings are 
sufficient to inspire disgust of the task of 
promoting the real welfare of a people if 
it were possible to appal the courage of 
the true citizen, Colbert, experienced the 
same ingratitude, and rendered similar 
services. 

From the retreat of Sully to his death 
he scarcely ever appeared at Court. Louis 
XIII. having sent to consult him on the 
state of affairs, he unwillingly attended 
the summons. The young courtiers 
turned into ridicule his dress, his grave 
demeanour and dignified manners. Sully 



38 



perceived it and thus addressed the king : 
" Sire, when your royal father, of glori- 
ous memory, did me the honour to con- 
sult me on high and important matters, 
he dismissed the Court buffoons ! ! ! M 
What a reproof ! 

Maximilian de Bethune was born in 
1560 ; in 1580, he was appointed Cham- 
berlain to the King of Navarre : in 1594, 
Secretary of State, subsequently Governor 
of Mantes, President of the board of Fi- 
nance, Grand Master of the Artillery, 
Governor of the Bastile, and in 1606, 
Duke of Sully and Peer of France. In 
1611, he quitted the Court and public 
affairs; in 1634, he was made Marshal 
of France, and died at Villebon in 1641, 
aged eighty-one years. The Duchess of 
Sully erected to the memory of her hus- 
band a fine statue of white marble, exe- 
cuted by one of the most famous Italian 
sculptors; it is placed in an apartment 
of the Castle of Villebon— doubtless it 
might have been more appropriately 



39 



placed ; it should have adorned the ca- 
pital ! The remains of Sully, with those 
of the Duchess, his wife, are deposited 
in a mausoleum at Nogent le Rotron, 
otherwise Bethune. 



EULOGY 



OF 



MAXIMILIAN DE BETHUNE, 

Duke of Sully. 



The melancholy experience of every 
age and nation bears witness to the in- 
justice of mankind towards those who 
are its greatest ornaments. Surpassing 
merit cannot be tolerated by those in 
whom it excites a sense of humiliation. 
It overpowers their weakness ; posterity 
is more just, envy no longer hovers 
around the silent tomb, persecution sub- 
sides, and petty passions are extinguished, 
interfering interests no longer exist, and 
truth is at last triumphant. The interval 
which separates our age from that of Sully 
is favourable to his glory ; the benefits 



41 



derived from his administration have 
been more truly appreciated since it has 
passed away ; the resources of his genius 
have been more admired since the evils 
they remedied have again occurred. His 
reputation, at first disputed and vaccillat- 
ing, now stands in its own strength, like 
the oak of the forest, rooted in storms 
and rendered firm by the convulsions of 
succeeding centuries. The Eulogy of 
this Minister is the echo of fame, dictated 
by the voice of ages. 

Shame to the man of letters who de- 
grades his talent by flattery. Our object 
is not individual panegyric, but a lesson 
for nations and the human race. If a 
country experience the same miseries and 
the same disorders ; abuses passed into 
laws, morals corrupted by meanness, the 
springs of Government relaxed by lux- 
ury, I write for that country. In dis- 
playing the talents of Sully, I shall un- 
fold mighty resources ; in describing his 
merits, I shall offer a splendid example. 



42 



I am well aware that there are times 
in which he who dares to eulogise virtue 
is deemed the enemy of his age ; but I 
were unworthy to pronounce the name 
of Sully if I were deterred by such fear. 
Let us at least have the courage to bear 
witness to virtue, in an age when so few 
dare to practise it. The virtuous will 
uphold me, and the indignation of vice 
will be a fresh wreath in my crown. 

This eulogy shall be equally conse- 
crated to thee, Oh tender friend of Sully, 
the greatest monarch and the most gene- 
rous master ! Thou at whose memory the 
eyes of thy countrymen fill with tears ! 
If thy cold ashes could speak, thyself 
would describe the virtues of Sully in thy 
own manly eloquence ; an eulogy more 
worthy of him than the tribute of the 
most splendid oratory. 



43 



FIRST PART. 



The least distinction of Sully was an 
illustrious birth ; on one side he was 
allied to the house of Austria, on the other 
to that of France. This fortunate con- 
currence might have corrupted a weak 
mind ; to his it was the source of that 
elevation of spirit, which, indignant at 
the least approach to meanness, enters the 
career of glory by the path of virtue. 
Fortune had assigned to him another 
advantage, — he was poor. While he was 
educated at Rosni, in the austere strength 
of the morals of earlier ages, the child 
who was destined to be the conqueror 
and ruler of France, grew and improved 
under similar discipline among the moun- 
tains and rocks of Beam. Their union 
was decreed for the happinesss of the State, 
while in the weakness of childhood, they 



44 



were nursed amid carnage. The four 
battles in which torrents of the blood of his 
countrymen were shed, are the epochs of 
Sully's nonage. Greater miseries ap- 
proached. How can the memory of that 
day be obliterated, which was the signal 
of a civil war which lasted twenty-six 
years ; that day on which fanaticism 
transformed a mild people into a nation 
of assassins, and deluged their altars with 
blood. Praise be to Heaven, Sully and 
Henry perished not on that tremendous 
day. Their death would have been more 
fatal to their surviving countrymen than 
the loss of sixty thousand citizens who 
bled in that hour of madness and of hor- 
ror, the massacre of St. Bartholomew. 

The education of Sully was interrupted 
by these troubles. He was obliged to 
give up the study of languages. But 
history had placed before his eyes the 
examples of great men, and he felt him- 
self born to imitate them. The study of 
mathematics trained his mind to those 



45 



just and rapid combinations which form 
the warrior and the statesman. His age 
was a living lesson. The religious mad- 
ness of which he had been the witness, 
and almost the victim, inspired him with 
a horror of fanaticism. The ravaged ci- 
ties and plains awoke compassion in his 
heart. Hunger, thirst, perils and toils, 
fortified his courage. What! in con- 
templating the feeble minds and corrupted 
morals of our own times, shall we be re- 
duced to envy those periods of civil dis- 
cord, where the state is agitated, but 
minds are fortified. Sully, at sixteen, 
had already shewn himself no common 
character. Military talents were the first 
by which he was distinguished. 



Charles IX. a weak and ferocious 
prince, the slave of his mother, and sul- 
lied with the blood of his subjects, was 
dead . Henry the Third had arrived from 
Poland, but Catherine, voluptuous and 
cruel, a barbarous Queen, and a super- 
stitious woman, held the bloody reins of 

G 



46 



empire. The Protestants, dreadful in de- 
feat, hastened to avenge the murders of 
St. Bartholomew. Henry burst his chains 
and flew from prison to the field. Rosni 
followed him, impatient to conquer ; he 
served as a volunteer. On the plains of 
Tours he gathered his early laurels. The 
feeling heart of Henry trembled for him, 
and while he praised his courage he 
blamed its temerity. The colours were 
confided to his hand, and he made them 
the standard of triumph. To the ser- 
vice of his master he devoted the gold 
which was the price of his blood, and 
maintained several gentlemen, who vowed 
to fight and die in his cause. 'From this 
period he was attached to the personal 
service of the king. It was a devotion to 
peril and a league with honour. Henry, 
with a few comrades, was hemmed 
within the walls of the enemy, and sepa- 
rated from his army. Sully fought at his 
side against the entire force of the enemy ; 
this new Parmenio saved his Alexander. 
Perils increased. Here he is surrounded 



47 



and appears to have no choice but an ho- 
nourable death ; there, sword in hand, 
he opposes an army. Henry blames this 
excess of courage. But his example au- 
thorised what his commands forbid, and 
Sully in battle was more apt to imitate 
his master than to obey him. 

France, bleeding and rent with civil 
scars, at length seemed to enjoy the 
sweets of repose ; the two courts instantly 
passed from war to dissipation ; strange 
contrast of ferocity and voluptuousness. 
Those warriors whom superstition had 
plunged into the horrors of civil carnage, 
amused themselves with gallantry, feasts 
and dances. Interest soon dissolved an 
ill-cemented peace. The King of Na- 
varre, at the head of fifteen hundred men, 
attacked an important and well garrisoned 
town. The gates were forced, but within, 
a hundred barriers presented themselves* 
History will tell the deeds of Sully ; fight- 
ing beside his king, at every step he en- 
counters a fresh enemy, repels fresh as- 



48 



saults; exposed to the fire of batteries, 
the hail of musquetry, the stones falling 
from the house-tops for five days and 
nights, during which he never quitted 
his arms, hastily snatching his food in the 
bloody field, sleeping upright against 
ruinous houses ready to crush him ; in 
this state wounded and bleeding, but 
still fighting with one hand, he attacks 
the enemy, and with the other he defends 
his king. 

The warfare of those times did not 
resemble ours, where the opposition of 
equal forces, form firm battalions, who 
study and observe each other, combine 
with deep wisdom their wary move- 
ments, and balance with tremendous po- 
licy the fates of Empires. Armies were 
less numerous and more disposable. The 
enthusiasm of civil contest embued every 
mind and communicated a dreadful energy 
which dared and braved every peril. The 
fate of war turned rather on a coup de 
main than a regular battle ; and actions 



49 



often repeated, had less decisive influence. 
Audacity supplied the place of strength. 
Cities were by turns taken and re-taken. 
Negociations succeeded to battles, and 
intrigue was mingled with war. 

I shall not accompany Sully in all the 
campaigns in which he served and fol- 
lowed Henry. They every where present 
the same delineations : battles, perils and 
wounds. I will rapidly discuss these to- 
pics, and pass on to more important ob- 
jects. Henry III. was no more ; this un- 
happy prince was pierced by the poniard 
sharpened by his own weakness. The 
throne of France, vacant by assassination, 
was disputed by rebellion and intrigue. 
May en tie had in his favour his descent 
from the house of Lorraine, his talents 
and the popular fanaticism. The Cardi- 
nal of Bourbon, his rights and the phan- 
tom of power. Philip II. the gold of 
Mexico, the thunders of Rome, and the 
genius of the Duke of Parma. Henry 
IV. his claims, his virtues, his sword 
and Sully. 



50 



Sully had already made himself mas- 
ter of the important fortress of Meulan, 
when the Duke of Mayenne advanced at 
the head of thirty thousand men. Henry 
ventured to attack him with only three 
thousand : he entrusted his friend with 
one of those important positions which de- 
cide a victory. Sully is at once a soldier 
and a general ; he gives the word and offers 
the example — his ranks are broken — he 
rallies them. New enemies appear, — 
and his soldiers give way; he flies to 
Henry and begs a reinforcement. " My 
friend," says the King, " I have none to 
give you, but do not lose courage." 
Sully flies to his forces, announces speedy 
succour; he did not deceive them; his 
valour, his intrepidity, his zeal for the 
state, his love for the King; all these 
virtues, inflamed by Henry's danger, are 
the reinforcement he brings. These sen- 
timents pervade every heart, the wounded 
see their blood flow with unconcern ; the 
dying revive, strength multiplies, and the 
conquering Sully turns the fate of victory 
to the side of Henry IV. 



51 



Paris is besieged. Sully, master of a 
suburb, spreads terror through the city. 
He makes the besiegers retire from Meu- 
lan and defends against a whole army a 
place destitute of walls. The Spaniards 
join the Leaguers. Mayenne andEgmont 
march against Henry ; the fate of France 
hangs upon a battle. On the plains of 
Ivri Sully fought with intrepidity till he 
fell under the horse's feet, with seven 
wounds ; he remained without helmet or 
armour, fainting and deserted on the field 
of battle. It was on the close of this 
battle that Henry, bending over his 
wounds, bestowed on him the title of 
u brave and noble knight ;" no vain title 
to flatter vanity, but the just distinction 
of a hero. Noble Frenchmen, your an- 
cestors bore this title ; have you forgotten 
it ? They bought it with their blood, they 
maintained it by their virtues ; it ex- 
pressed honour, but did not supply its 
place ; never was it better bestowed than 
on Sully. Having learnt that the King 
again besieged Paris, he directed that he 



52 



should be borne thither. His failing 
steps would no longer support him in 
battle ; his arm in a sling could no longer 
wield a sword ; but his counsels can as- 
sist his Prince, and his voice animate his 
troops ; the very sight of his wounds are 
the signal of battle and the example of 
valour. Soon he is able to resume his 
sword. He takes Gisors, flies to the siege 
of Chartres, and nearly perishes there ; 
he lays a plot to get Mayenne into his 
hands, but the impetuous valour of Henry 
saves the chief of the League. At the 
siege of Rouen he requests the honour of 
the command of a battery, but envy al- 
ready wished to deprive him of the glory 
of serving the state. At least they cannot 
deprive him of the satisfaction of shedding 
his blood at the side of his master. The 
Duke of Parma again entered France. 
The King, who never counted his troops, 
again marched to encounter him. With 
one hundred men he faced thirty thou- 
sand. The name of Henry could alone 
authenticate this action, in which he 



53 



fought like the Spartans at Thermopylae ; 
sixty of his comrades perished by his 
side, and his single arm, with the re- 
mainder, upheld the destiny of France 
against thirty thousand men. Sully was 
endowed by nature with a talent for 
sieges, led on by his genius he had stu- 
died the science of attack and defence. 
This science was far from being perfected ; 
it awaited Vauban. But Sully, even in 
this department, had the glory which is 
peculiar to genius, of outstripping his 
age. At the siege of Dreux his enemies 
dared to insult his measures. His success 
avenged him. He greatly promoted the 
capture of Laon, and here he fought for 
the last time against the French. Wil- 
lingly would he have broken the sword 
of civil contest ; he preserved it only to 
wash its stains in the blood of the ene- 
mies of his country. Henry declared 
war against the Spaniards, and Sully went 
to the siege of Fere ; he directed its ope- 
rations and provisioned the army. Be- 
fore Amiens he was not less useful to his 

H 



54 



King ; the loss of this city almost over- 
threw the throne of Henry IV. The 
peace of Vervins terminated these trou- 
bles, but war soon arose at the foot of the 
Alps. The Duke of Savoy, by the arti- 
fices of a weak potentate, drew on himself 
the arms of the conqueror of the League. 
Henry advanced and Sully drives back 
the enemies of France. He had the au- 
dacity to attack two forts situated on a 
sharp and inaccessible rock ; a path sur- 
rounded with precipices was the only road 
by which cannon could reach it, and it 
was necessary to carry it afterwards over 
the summit of the mountain ; to fix bat- 
teries it was necessary to level rocks, and 
to take the citadel they must spy out some 
less defended part. After all these ob- 
stacles were overcome, one remained 
more invincible still, the jealousy of the 
courtiers. Sully triumphed over all. The 
enemies of France learned to fear him. 
Henry's esteem increased and the cour- 
tiers acquired a new motive of hatred. 

I shall not dilate on the military ac- 



55 



tions of Sully ; what would be the princi- 
pal glory of the history of another man's 
life is only an episode in his, and I be- 
hold this great man with the eyes of pos- 
terity, who, in the statesman, have seen 
the warrior eclipsed. I shall merely give 
a rapid sketch of his negociations, and 
pass on to the description of hisadininis* 
tration. 



56 



SECOND PART. 



When the death of the last Prince of 
the House of Valois had opened to Henry 
the Fourth a path to the throne, this 
prince cast his eyes upon France and 
its dependencies, to consider what re- 
mained either to hope or to fear. Eng- 
land, agitated by the tyrannical caprices 
of Henry VIII. weakened under Edward 
VI. flowing with blood under Mary, flou- 
rishing and tranquil under Elizabeth, 
was laying the foundations of permanent 
grandeur, and appeared disposed to sup- 
port the pretensions of a Protestant King 
in France. Holland, struggling with its 
tyrants, beheld in their enemy a necessary 
ally. Germany degraded under the sway 
of Rodolph, dreaded the Ottomans, and 
had little influence over its neighbours. 
Switzerland, brare and free, needed in 



57 



its poverty to sell its soldiers and its 
blood. Spain, increased by its territories 
in the New World, had overwhelmed 
Portugal, threatened England, and deso- 
lated France. Rome launched its thun- 
ders. Sweden and Denmark were un- 
connected with the middle of Europe. 
Poland was in a state of barbarism. Rus- 
sia had no political existence : within the 
kingdom was the League protected by 
Spain, authorised by the Popes, who op- 
posed Kings in the name of Heaven. 
Here he contemplated Mayenne, wise in 
counsel, slow in execution, an excellent 
chief of a party, a more able than fortu- 
nate warrior ; Aumale, ardent, impetuous 
braving death and kings; Nemours, suf- 
ficiently eminent to excite the jealousy 
of Mayenne ; Mercoeur, a philosopher in 
the bosom of revolt, and humane amid the 
atrocities of civil war ; Brissac, a romantic 
and singular genius, anxious to create the 
model of ancient Rome out of the ruins 
of France ; the Cardinal of Bourbon, 
who from weakness was forced to assume 



58 



ihe crown. Guise, whose name was a 
host ; Epernon, whose distinguishing* cha- 
racter was pride, and who never inspired 
any other sentiment than fear; Villars, 
haughty and violent, but frank and brave ; 
Joyeuse, devout from caprice and a war- 
rior from fanaticism ; Villeroi, an upright 
man and an able statesman ; added to 
these was the President Jeannin, too vir- 
tuous for a rebel, the lover of his country, 
the enemy of Spain, hated by the Sixteen, 
the soul of his party in spite of themselves, 
he moderated their violence. On the 
other side was Aumont, a faithful subject 
and an intrepid warrior ; Biron, who had 
been Generalissimo in seven battles : he, 
who to be great wanted only to be vir- 
tuous ; Givri, equally eminent in letters 
as in war; Crillon, whose name and ho- 
nour is synonymous ; Lesdiguieres, risen 
from the ranks to be Constable, in times 
when merit finds its own level ; Mont- 
morency, worthy of his honoured name ; 
Mornai, an almost solitary instance of re- 
ligion carried to excess without fanati- 



59 



cism ; Sanci, a warrior, a magistrate, a 
negotiator and a minister. Harlai, who 
had the glory of suffering for his King ; 
Bouillon, in whose ardent and restless 
genius was combined the activity of am- 
bition and the phlegm of policy; the 
Count D'Auvergne eager for cabals and 
dissipation ; the Count de Soissons, brave 
but inconstant, little attached to his mas- 
ter, jealous of his glory, without fore- 
sight in his passions, needing agitation, 
and tormenting himself without a settled 
object. Such were the virtues and the 
vices, the qualities and the dispositions, 
of those who served and those who op- 
posed Henry IV. To unite such various 
interests, to calm such opposite passions, 
to vanquish was insufficient ; it was ne- 
cessary to negotiate. Sully, a warrior 
and a politician, assisted the King's cause 
by his talents as well as served it by his 
valour. Hardly was the League formed 
when Henry sent him to the Court of 
France to observe its operations. He 
noted a conjuncture preceding great trou- 



60 



bles, in which every one is engaged in 
taking measures for self-preservation, 
when friendship assumes the guise of 
party spirit, when hatred becomes fac- 
tion, when private interests clog the 
wheels of Government, when the vulgar 
cease to wonder at Sovereign grandeur, 
when the nobility make a traffic of their 
faith and set a price on their integrity. 
He had followed all the revolutions of 
the state, and the progress of the various 
systems. He had negociated at the peril 
of his life the treaty which united the 
two Kings. He negociated with all the 
Leaguers who had the resources of the 
state at their disposal, or whose reputa- 
tion weighed on the fidelity of the people. 
Villars, master of an important position, 
opposed blind courage and indiscrimi- 
nating passion. Sully, by coolness, mo- 
deration and frankness, triumphed over 
this haughty spirit, and restored a citizen 
to the state. The heir of the House of 
Guise fought to uphold the throne shaken 
by the intrigues of his family. Sully 



61 



brought a crowd of rebels to the feet of 
his master. He profited by their jealousy 
to sow the seeds of division ; by their 
mutual hatred to inspire the love of duty ; 
flattered ambition by dignities, interest 
by riches, vanity by praises ; estimated 
by the strength of character and passion 
the value that individuals set on their 
hatred or their vengeance; calculated 
the service that each could render his 
master, what number he would carry 
along with him ; flattered the powerful 
with the glory of influencing the scale of 
empire, the subordinate class with the 
hope of greatness; persuading each that 
to him belonged the greatest share of con- 
fidence, and engaging all to decision, 
that they might not see others bear away 
the reward. Such was the management 
employed by Sully towards the obscure 
factious crowd which form the mass of 
parties, and whose policy is passion. 
But with men of a superior order, he put 
forth all the strength of reason. He 
weighed the interests of France, balanced 
i 



62 



its claims, unfolded his resources, depicted 
the horrors of civil contests, the necessity 
of a directing power, the King's virtues ; 
he awakened in every heart the voice of 
the country which called for its citizens 
and displayed that masculine eloquence 
which had its source less in talent than 
in the vigour of sentiment. 

In these deplorable times fidelity itself 
was factious; while the Leaguers were 
returning to their duty, it was necessary 
to endeavour to maintain a spirit of loy- 
alty in Henry's party. Obedience seemed 
a favour, not a duty. The Catholics, 
jealous of the Protestants, and corrupted 
by Spain, were ever forming conspiracies, 
which they termed sacred, because they 
were disguised with the colour of reli- 
gion. The nobility, accustomed to in- 
dependence, feared the dominion of a 
king, who would be a check on their 
tyranny. The Protestants were animated 
by a republican spirit, which had its 
source in civil discord ; the example of 



63 



Holland and persecution itself fostered 
the growth of this spirit; at first they 
espoused the cause of Henry IV. but 
served him most equivocally, rather as 
conspirators than as subjects ; indignant 
that the Catholics should share the honour 
of taking up arms in his cause ; anxiously 
beholding* him almost alienated from 
their faith ; looking on the privileges 
accorded them in the edict of Nantz as 
their right, and every refusal of their de- 
mands as injustice; irreconcilable with 
the religion of the party which had tri- 
umphed, they formed a numerous body 
in the state, alternately repressed by au- 
thority and struggling against it. Henry 
opposed the genius of Sully to all these 
contending factions. Sully never for a 
moment relaxed his vigilance. He gave 
timely notice of the approach of rebellion, 
ever less formidable when foreseen ; or 
he extinguished its elementary principles. 

If we narrowly observe the tendency 
of assemblies where the interest of the 



64 



subject and the state are set in opposition, 
we shall perceive that the assemblies held 
by the Protestants were of a formidable 
character ; their congregated strength was 
thus made obvious, their concentrated 
passions acquired additional activity. — 
It would doubtless have been desirable 
that these assemblies should have been 
put down : but it was only by their 
toleration that a yet unsettled Govern- 
ment could appear to retain the power 
of suppressing them. To prevent their 
ill effects it was requisite that an indi- 
vidual should preside in them armed with 
the Royal authority, who should influ- 
ence their decisions while he appeared 
only to coincide with them. A mind so 
firm as to maintain the honour of the 
throne, and so wise as not to aggravate 
spirits already too much excited ; who 
possessed pliability of character to conci- 
liate various tempers, and dignity to awe 
them ; animated, yet self-possessed, in- 
genious to divide and eloquent to induce 
concurrence, endowed with penetration 



65 



rather than impenetrable. Such was 
Sully ; he conciliated distrust, dissipated 
rumours spread by animosity, interposed 
authority to check measures of little con- 
sequence, and silently and secretly re- 
pressed the most dangerous. He kept 
some in the path of duty by fear, others 
by interest, some by shame, the rest by 
glory ; not a passion or a vice but yielded 
to his control and concurred to the tran- 
quillity of the State. 

This influence was not limited to 
France ; wherever it could promote the 
interest of Henry, the genius of Sully 
predominated. I leave to others the task 
of narrating the negociations of this 
great man with Switzerland, Savoy, Rome 
and Florence, and will follow him to Eng- 
land, where Elizabeth no longer reigned, 
but was succeeded by the son of Mary 
Stuart. Henry IV. had planned the hu- 
miliation of the House of Austria. Irri- 
tated by the pride of Charles V. and the 
treachery of Philip II. ; bearing all the 



66 



weight of the misery of France, and his 
private injuries; he resolved to be the 
avenger of France, Europe and himself, 
and finally to terminate the general dis- 
pute. The assistance of England was 
requisite in a quarrel which was to arm 
one half of Europe against the other. 
Sully leaves France with Henry's instruc- 
tions. When he arrived in London, no- 
thing but obstacles presented themselves ; 
a proud and magnanimous nation, capa- 
ble of conceiving vast projects, the enemy 
of its rival state, making its own aggran- 
dizement the focus of its strength and its 
designs, an agitated and factious Court ; 
the partisans of France opposing those of 
Spain, others equally jealous of both 
powers ; some seditious, eager for inno- 
vation attached to no particular party, 
but anxious to increase the general fer- 
ment ; Ministers, ardent in their ambi- 
tious pursuits, careless of the welfare of 
the state, refusing to lend their assistance 
to a project which did not emanate from 
themselves ; a courageous Queen, pas- 



67 



sionately attached to the Catholics, brav- 
ing- her husband's authority from fana- 
ticism. A Prince, acting from a sense 
of justice, but weak and irresolute; a 
theologian rather than a King ; composing 
books instead of governing his people; 
without firmness to restrain his own 
subjects, or policy to influence other na- 
tions. The genius of Sully met all these 
difficulties like an able general, who, 
having to oppose the enemy in a disad- 
vantageous country, carefully observes 
and seizes every tenable post. Sully, on 
his arrival in London, considered every 
obstacle and advantage relative to his ne- 
gociation. He appreciated the weakness 
of the King ; he learnt to distrust his 
Ministers, he frustrated the intrigue of 
the Spaniards, he excited the hatred of 
their tyrants in the Dutch Envoys, he 
engaged Sweden and Denmark, to extend 
their views to the middle states of Eu- 
rope ; he inflamed Venice with the hope of 
recovering her ancient grandeur. Armed 
with these united forces, he again assails 



68 



the King, and urges the vast designs of 
Henry IV. approved by Elizabeth ; he 
places before him Europe, rent into two 
great factions : on one side the Emperor, 
possessing only claims and weakness, the 
Pope, an honourable slave to Austria, 
Spain devastated by America, Spanish 
Flanders tottering under the Government 
of Philip II. ; Savoy, hemmed in by two 
great powers which overwhelmed it, the 
lesser states of Italy fated to depend on 
the power that might chuse to conquer or 
deign to purchase them ; on the other 
side, France, fertile in resources, and 
arising more formidable in strength from 
the ashes of civil combustion. England, 
powerful from her fleets, and yet more 
from her genius; Sweden, mighty in 
arms and heroes ; Denmark, proud of its 
former conquests; Venice, like Tyra, the 
merchant city, and the conquering Car- 
thage ; Holland, celebrated by the suc- 
cessive victories of forty years; and, 
lastly, the Protestant States of Germany 
and Switzerland, enthusiastic in liberty 



(39 



and religion. He detailed his project, 
displayed his means of carrying them into 
execution, and at length interested the 
vanity of James, by describing the Kings 
of France and England at the head of 
this great enterprise, altering the face of 
Europe and deciding the fate of Kings. 
But, alas ! how vain are the triumphs of 
great men ! what avails it that Sully tri- 
umphed over all these obstacles, and 
united England and France against Aus- 
tria j The death of Henry IV. rendered 
all these strokes of polic}' useless. The 
execution of a part of this vast plan was 
left to Richlieu ; the other was never 
completed ; and all that was effected was 
effaced by succeeding events. Thus the 
political world experiences even more 
revolutions than the physical. 

How great soever the talents of Sully 
might be for negociation, in this species 
of glory he is perhaps rivalled by the 
President Jeannin and the Cardinal Ossat; 
but as a Minister he had no equal : he 



70 



surpassed his predecessors, and is deser- 
vedly the model of posterity. 



THIRD PART. 

How inadequate are the orators of 
these times, unconnected with the busi- 
ness of Government, to treat subjects 
which embrace the political system of 
nations. It would belong to the orators 
of the ancient Republics, or rather to 
some individual who might observe all 
the changes of all nations, discern periods 
and climes, trace the causes and effects 
of the rise and fall of kingdoms, to eu- 
logise a Minister and a Statesman. Who 
shall pretend to display the qualities with 
which he ought to be adorned. If I as- 



71 



sign him wisdom and activity, a talent 
for detail as well as a genius for great 
combinations — if I say that he should 
govern like nature by invariable and 
simple principles, by a system so com- 
pletely organised that the lesser opera- 
tions were carried on imperceptibly ; who 
in judging of a particular measure, com- 
pared it with the general system* calcu- 
late the reciprocal influence of the se- 
veral powers, and of each on their com- 
bined influence, seize the connection of 
objects apparently distant, discern the 
sources and application of power, unite 
public and private interests, make them 
concur even in their opposition to the 
general harmony — if I say that a Minister 
should adopt facility in measures, and 
avoid almost as evils, half-remedies in 
great misfortunes, approach the object 
of his efforts without dwelling on obsta- 
cles ; distinguish the administration of 
affairs, from acts of authority, and those 
conjunctures which are never so happy 
as when left to themselves, not to take the 



72 



forced posture of affairs for their natural 
state, and not to depart from general 
principles because adherence to them 
may occasion trifling inconvenience, and 
not to imagine that all abuses can be 
eradicated, the most fatal error of all ; 
not to sacrifice the welfare of the state 
to that of a single city, nor cause the mi- 
sery of ages for momentary advantage — 
if I add that it should be the incessant 
endeavour of a Minister to retrench the 
sum of evil caused by daily embarrass- 
ment, the turmoil of business, the exi- 
gency of the moment, the indolence or 
corruption of agents, and the eternal 
contrast of what would be possible in the 
nature of things, and what ceases to be 
so from human passions ; were I to assert 
all this and more I should have faintly 
traced the qualities and duties which be- 
long to a statesman. The actions of 
Sully will speak for him, and demonstrate 
the profundity and extent of his talents. 

Before he was Minister of Finance 



73 



his master had cast his eyes on him to 
repair the evils under which his country 
groaned. His first merit was lhat he 
was aware of their existence. He con- 
templated the entire extent of the mis- 
chief, he beheld a kingdom sinking 
under thirty years of civil warfare, a prey 
to all the evils produced by weakened and 
despised authority. He began by calculat- 
ing the debts of the state; he found it in- 
debted to England, Switzerland and Hol- 
land, which had furnished Henry with 
troops, vessels, arms and gold, to aid his 
conquest of the Leaguers ; to the army 
yet unpaid ; to the usurers who forced 
the kingdom to pay for its destruction ; 
to all the officers of the various depart- 
ments of the administration, who claimed 
twenty years arrears of services and pen- 
sions, to the slaves and favourites, on 
whom Henrv III. had lavished the trea- 
sures drained from the vital of the State ; 
to the farmers of the taxes, who, loading 
the Government with heavy payments, 
enjoyed in indolence, the fruits of a na- 



74 



tion's toils ; and to the chiefs of the 
League, who had almost all sold their 
fidelity to their new master. He had 
been necessitated to purchase every for- 
tress, to pay for every treaty, to estimate 
the price at which each would sell the 
profits of rebellion, as if the honour of 
returning to duty had not been the most 
ample reward. He calculated and found 
the sum total of these debts to be three 
hundred and thirty millions. Sully 
passed on to the examination of the re- 
venue. Would it were possible in this 
age to create astonishment by stating that 
the King had the disposal of only thirty 
millions, while the people paid one hun- 
dred and fifty millions. What could be 
the cause of this incredible disorder? 
The weakness of kings, the rapacity of 
subjects. Besides the subsidies levied 
for the exigencies of the state, every 
officer, either of war, justice, or finance, 
levied taxes on the people, who were 
obliged to maintain these subaltern ty- 
rants. All the creditors of the state, 



75 



whether foreigners or subjects, taking 
the payment into their own hands, had 
appropriated to their private uses the 
revenues of their Prince, and their ban- 
ditti of clerks and commissaries disputed 
with those of the Government the plunder 
of a nation. The formers general having 
established subordinate farms, which were 
divided and subdivided, the revenue was 
exhausted by passing through so many 
hands, like those accumulated waters, 
which tumbling down the depths of preci- 
pices in reiterated cascades, evaporating in 
foam, and borne by winds to distant 
plains, reach only in part their basin in 
the valley beneath. Domains to the value 
of one hundred millions had been illegally 
alienated. A great portion of the Royal 
revenue had been usurped by the nobles 
or sold at a contemptible price by those 
in whose hands its management had been 
placed. But the principal source of dis- 
order were the peculations of agents. It 
is not possible to detail all the contri- 
vances invented by avarice to appropriate 



76 



the revenues of the state. The receipts 
were falsified, the expenditure fraudu- 
lently stated ; the emoluments of places 
augmented, double and triple offices cre- 
ated, some expenses erroneously entered 
and others suppressed. Sully detected 
all these hidden sources of peculation, by 
which the receivers appropriated the gold 
of France. He examined all the registers, 
compared the statements, verified the ac- 
counts, collated and combined them. I 
shall not hesitate to say that this obscure 
labour does Sully the highest honour. 
The mind of a great man feels secret 
pleasure when it predominates in coun- 
sel and braves powerful enemies for the 
good of the state; his genius expands 
when he forms those mighty combina- 
tions which influence the fate of Europe ; 
but to plunge into details which require 
constant and common-place attention ; 
to consecrate to minute calculations the 
hand accustomed to wave armies to vic- 
tory ; these toils of certain difficulty and 
uncertain benefit, in which the imagina- 



77 



tion is not sustained by the sentiment of 
glory, demands a stronger mind than the 
more brilliant operations of Government. 

Sully continued his scrutiny : he ob- 
served the effects of these abuses through- 
out the kingdom. He sees industry ob- 
structed, the circulation checked, lands 
uncultivated and of little value, the peo- 
ple in misery, credit destroyed, no pre- 
sent resource and almost inevitable ruin. 
Yet France, in her aspiring struggles, 
agitated and tormented herself to find a 
remedy for her evils. A Council of Fi- 
nance had been created, a sort of hydra, 
more fatal to France than was the admi- 
nistration of the Superintendent it re- 
placed ; the members of this Council in- 
creased the evils they were appointed to 
reform ; they governed all the farms of 
the kingdom under borrowed names, 
and appropriated to themselves large 
sums for contracts, of which they paid 
only a small proportion, forced the cre- 
ditors of the state by long delays to re- 



78 



duce their payments, but entered the en- 
tire sum in their accounts ; they refused 
for the necessary supplies of the war 
those treasures which they lavished in 
luxury, and revelled in the necessities of 
the King, the miseries of the people, and 
the ruin of the state. So have we be- 
held in our own age a city overthrown 
by an earthquake, the prey of plunderers 
who sought for gold among the dead, to 
whom its ruins afforded a sepulchre; 
these licenced plunderers rejoiced in the 
overthrow of their country. France was 
on the verge of ruin : but Sully was its 
minister. While every thing was com- 
bined for its destruction, he omitted no 
effort to save it. That he might com- 
pletely ascertain its difficulties he made 
journies through its different provinces. 
Oh ye who would know and remedy the 
evils of a state, leave your palaces. 
Seated at your luxurious boards, you are 
ignorant that thousands perish with hun- 
ger. In courts and around the throne 
no tale is told but that of prosperity ; 



79 



but when the fields are deserted, the in- 
struments of husbandry broken, the cot- 
tages uninhabited and falling into ruins ; 
when the grass is growing in the solitary 
streets of the towns, when whole families 
are met on the high roads, bidding adieu 
to their native land and seeking subsist- 
ence in happier climes ; then the heart 
throbs, tears flow, and we begin to com- 
prehend that the court is not the state, 
and that the luxury of a few individuals 
is not the prosperity of twenty millions 
of citizens. 

Such was the spectacle presented to the 
eyes of Sully ; but to the heart of a citizen 
he united the discrimination of a philo- 
sopher. While he observed the evils he 
studied their remedy. Posterity ought 
to be informed that Sully had as many 
obstacles to overcome from the conduct 
of the financiers as his master had to en^ 
counter when he disputed every city with 
the Leaguers. Sully's virtue triumphed ; 
he explored this desolated kingdom with 



so 



the most enlightened and benevolent 
views. Misery at length disappears and 
light dawns. Solly is armed with Ihe 
King's authority, he is endowed with all 
the energy imparted by benevolent views. 
He commenced by the reform of abuses. 
He deprived the agents of Government 
and the nobles of the power of levying 
contributions on the provinces, the peo- 
ple, freed from their tyrants, rejoiced that 
they had only one master to pay. In 
vain did Epernon uphold the opposite 
party in the Council, fear was not made 
for Sully, As a minister he frustrated 
injustice, as a warrior he was unawed by 
menaces. Unappalled by difficulties, he 
pursued his career. He forbid the cre- 
ditors of the state to make levies on 
farms of the revenue. By this regulation 
the revenues were rescued from the grasp 
of England, Germany, Switzerland, Flo- 
rence, Venice, and the most powerful of 
the subjects of France. Henry IV. him- 
self was alarmed at the storm that was 
gathering over the head of Sully. But 



81 



Sully was firm. He annihilated the sys- 
tem of underletting the farms of the re- 
venue. He prepared a general scheme 
of Finance, which frustrated undue means 
of gaining riches. He invented new me- 
thods of keeping the accounts. The dens 
of avarice were explored, and the tigers 
who preyed on the vitals of the people 
dislodged. Unjust gains were scrutinized 
in the Courts of Law. Avarice was 
obliged to refund her pillage, and the 
riches which had been alienated from 
the use of the state, were again restored 
to it. If Government did not derive from 
these decisive measures all the advantage 
that was expected — if several great cri- 
minals escaped, Sully must not be ac- 
cused ; such irregularities arose from ve- 
nality and intrigue: from the difficulty 
of doing good and the excess to which 
disorder had arrived. For at some pe- 
riods gold will avert the punishment of 
crimes of which it has been the source. 
However a new face of things was pre- 
sented. The revenue was doubled. Fo- 



82 



reigners had no share in its profits and 
ceased to sell their protection. From 
that moment employments were more 
deservedly bestowed : for I dare assert 
that patronage is seldom worthily ex- 
ercised. He who tempts others must al- 
ready be corrupt, and how can we esteem 
him who employs bribery to gain his 
ends. Tyranny and usurpation disap- 
pears; domains to the value of eighty 
millions are restored to the Sovereign. 
Sully performs a more difficult operation : 
the system of Finance is thoroughly fa- 
thomed — its source, its hypothesis, its 
changes, every debt is discussed, every 
degree of fraud and injustice considered, 
the debts discharged, and the impositions 
abolished. 

Strict equity presided over these re- 
gulations, and measures which were in- 
jurious to the fortunes of individuals re- 
established the public credit. Laws were 
enacted to prevent the specie from passing 
into the neighbouring states. But laws 



83 



were inadequate while interested views 
were a constant temptation to their vio- 
lation. Sully applied various remedies 
to this evil, but none was entirely suc- 
cessful. This great man must have the 
credit of all the good he was anxious to 
do, and his age the disgrace of the abuses 
he could not correct. Order facilitated 
payments, every expenditure was met by 
a portion of the revenue. Government 
was no longer in arrears because the dis- 
bursements did not exceed the receipts. 
Delays were forbidden by a strict edict, 
and those shameful treaties abolished in 
which the creditor was obliged to set to 
sale a part of his debt to purchase the 
rest. If these details appear tedious, we 
must consider that causes apparently mi-, 
nute influence the prosperity of nations. 
Every reform instituted by Sully amelio- 
rated the condition of the people. The 
cities and the provinces were relieved 
from their burden of imposts. The 
vexatious delays, the odious formalities, 
remedies yet more cruel than evils, were 



84 



suppressed. Privileges often unjust and 
even dangerous, were reduced to their 
due limits, and impartiality facilitated 
redress. 

It will here be proper to unfold the 
principles of state economy adopted by 
Sully, in which he was so ably seconded 
by the genius and humanity of Henry IV. 
How could these warriors so readily as- 
sume the characters of statesmen 1 Does 
the habit of danger familiarise the imagi- 
nation to resource ? Or is it the brilli- 
ant motives, the glory, the toils, the 
mighty combinations which are present 
to those in whose hands are the fate of 
nations, that elevates minds and makes 
them exert all their energies? 

We must not confound the science of 
State economy with the simple adminis- 
tration of Finance; the latter requires 
only mechanical order, the former is the 
science of Government. It penetrates 
the sources of riches, it augments, it re- 



85 



gulates, it distributes them. The records 
of vanity bear the names of numerous 
Superintendants of Finance : to the an- 
nals of his country are inscribed the 
name of SULLY. 

By what fatality is taxation more ru- 
inous to states than war, pestilence, or 
famine? Why are the fields deserted, 
the country depopulated? Why has 
France lost half of her revenue? — be- 
cause the profits which would produce 
accumulated profits are wrung* from the 
husbandman, and the source of the re- 
venue being exhausted, caanot produce 
fresh enterprise. To obviate this griev- 
ance one of the first acts of Sully was 
to sink twenty millions of the arrears of 
taxes, and annually to diminish this tax 
two millions. This great minister re- 
garded the land tax as erroneous in itself, 
more particularly when it is of so arbi- 
trary a nature as to render property un- 
certain and exposed to capricious tyranny. 
Consider the husbandman, limiting his 

M 



86 



industry, anticipating a bad harvest with 
pleasure, and fearing to expend his capi- 
tal in improvements lest his riches should 
be imputed to him as a crime. Consider 
the poor sinking under toil, yet obliged 
to bear the burden of the rich ; privileges 
sold to one class; the misery of another ; 
the fertility of some lands balanced by 
the sterility of others ; oppression leaving 
only the naked walls of a hut from which 
it had torn the bed on which a mother 
had given citizens to the State ; seize on 
the garments of the new-born infant ; un- 
fortunate beings with sighs and groans 
refusing to give up the last sheaf which 
they had secreted for the food of their 
little ones. Are the peasantry then the 
enemies of the state, that they are devoted 
to oppression and tyranny? Shame to 
the narrow soul that calls such oppression 
policy : as if the mass of the people were 
not citizens, as if their prosperity were not 
the prosperity of the other classes, as if 
despair encouraged industry more than 
ease and libertv ! Yet such were the 



87 



abuses against which Sully daily raised 
his voice in Council. He likewise op- 
posed the tax upon commodities as a 
fresh burden on the land. But his en- 
tire indignation was excited by the tax 
on salt, a sort of scourge which desolated 
certain provinces, and forced the poor to 
buy salt when they wanted bread ; it was 
exacted by violence, and withered enter- 
prize and industry, whenever it was in 
force. " Sire," said Sully to Henry IV. 
" you have delivered your country from 
civil anarchy, but they enjoy not the 
blessings of peace : armies of robbers 
besiege their dwellings ; rescue your sub- 
jects from their real enemies, and France 
from desolation more awful than ensued 
from the battles of St. Denis, Jarnac, 
Moncontour and Courtras." I shall not 
dwell on the tenant service which wrested 
from the peasant not only his money but 
his toil, which spared the state the wages 
of a few labourers, but by the injury it 
did to agriculture deprived it of one 
source of revenue. 1 will not expatiate 



88 



on the manner in which taxes were le- 
vied : a greater grievance than the taxes 
themselves; evil pervades every thing, 
and law supposes its perversion. 

Kings, Princes, Ministers, consider 
the leading principle of Sally. Agricul- 
ture is the basis of your power. Agri- 
culture maintains fleets and levies armies, 
and victory blossoms in the fertile field. 
Athens and Rome required warriors and 
sages. To renovate France Sully de- 
manded only shepherds and husbandmen. 
He encouraged this useful class ; he gave 
rewards to those who cultivated waste 
lands. He every where put in requisition 
the toil of the peasantry to fertilise the 
plains. He called to France the eight, 
hundred thousand Moors, whom super- 
stition had driven from Spain. By a 
wise regulation he secured the peasantry 
from the oppression of the army. " Sol- 
diers and husbandmen," he exclaimed, 
" why are these disputes % Are the De- 
fenders of the country to attack its Sup- 



89 



porters?" He protected them from a 
species of depredators yet more formi- 
dable : from those who, under the shadow 
of law, seized their ploughs and steers 
in the unfinished furrow. Happy change! 
Agriculture revived, the plains became 
fertile, joy and serenity smiled in the 
cottage of the husbandman. Oh ! days 
of prosperity. France increased one third 
in population, furnished part of Europe 
with bread. England imported our corn 
and thus paid tribute to our soil. It can- 
not be too often repeated, particularly 
in these times, that this abundance was 
the happy result of the freedom of com- 
merce, it is true that there existed even 
then persons entrusted with a limited 
portion of the administration who eagerly 
seized an opportunity of deciding in mat- 
ters of state, and for the interests of a 
district were willing to sacrifice the hap- 
piness of a kingdom. Such persons ven- 
tured to restrict the exportation of corn 
in their districts. Sully exerted that au- 
thority which is ever benevolent when it 



90 



exercises useful severity. " If every 
agent of Government" said Sully to the 
King, " did the same, " your subjects 
would be destitute, and consequently 
your Majesty." These words are a les- 
son to Princes. 

Liberty is the soul of commerce, 
which ever flies oppression Sully en- 
couraged and sought to fix it in France. 
The interior commerce suffered from im- 
posts, which the nobles levied under the 
sanction of weak and unenlightened au- 
thority. The abuses of freedom had been 
replaced by the monopoly which ever 
exists under a false system of police. 
Sully opposed all these avaricious tyrants. 
He established a board of trade, a neces- 
sary institution, but which will never 
possess complete powers, till the merchant 
shall be united to the statesman. The 
former will add experience to the genuine 
views of the latter. He undertook to join 
by a canal the Seine and the Loire. He 
made other rivers navigable. He im- 



91 



proved the roads, not like the ancient 
Romans, for the extension of slavery, but 
for th^ circulation of riches and plenty* 
He encouraged and protected industry, 
bnt he kept it in the subordinate class 
to which it belongs. In the course of 
his observations on other nations he had 
noticed the gold of Peru circulating 
through the Indies and Europe, but in 
the greater proportion through fertile 
kingdoms. From this he argued that 
agriculture is the prime source of riches, 
that smaller states may be benefited by 
commeree, but that it properly belongs to 
great kingdoms. Of manufactures he 
only encouraged that of wool, because it 
is connected with the pasturage of flocks, 
and is a new source of fertility. The 
principal advantage of industry is to give 
a value to commodities by facilitating 
their consumption, and the most com- 
mon manufactures are the most useful. 

The vulgar 3 who are over-awed by 
magnificence, admire great cities and a 



92 



splendid metropolis ; the sage regards 
them as colossal decorations which threat- 
en to crush a nation. Sully made it a 
principle of government to endeavour to 
disperse these congregated masses. He 
wished every one to love the inheritance 
of his forefathers ; every husbandman to 
be proud of his profession and to prefer 
the honour of reigning over his fields to 
selling his service in cities. The multi- 
plication of offices has ever been consi- 
dered by the statesman as a public disaster. 
Sully discerned the point at which ne- 
cessity ends and abuse begins, and within 
these limits he reduced the agents of Go- 
vernment. The high interest of money 
burdened the nobility with debt and en- 
couraged the indolence of the people. 
This interest was reduced, estates reco- 
vered their value, and the active class of 
citizens found resources. By this prin- 
ciple he re-imbursed the revenue a hun- 
dred millions. He was pained to behold 
the indolence of so many persons main- 
tained by the state. This able minister 



93 



saw the political connection of morals 
and laws ; he strove to suppress vice, and 
especially luxury : luxury, more fatal 
than war and sedition, because the latter 
only occasions temporary convulsions, 
while the former eats into the vitals of a 
country by the destruction of virtuous 
principle. 

By an administration founded on these 
principles, in fifteen years Sully renovated 
France ; but he could not have liquidated 
a debt of fifty millions, and have placed 
forty millions in the King's coffers, if he 
had not added to his other resources eco- 
nomy. I mean by economy the retrench- 
ment of trifling expences, which procures 
only trifling aids. I mean that true eco- 
nomy which manages the public treasure 
as individuals do their family possessions. 
The establishment of order and the pre- 
vention of dissipation, and which to the 
use of the state in general that wealth 
which is the substance of the state. Praise 
be to Sully that he has given to Ministers 

N 



94 



an example of this courageous economy, 
and may it be permitted us to pray that 
so great an example may not be without 
its use to the nations. 

So many cares and toils in the econo- 
mical department did not engross the ge- 
nius of Sully ; it comprehended the whole 
extent of administration. Artillery, war, 
the navy, the arts, religion, policy, all 
are improved. I may even assert that 
this great man was the benefactor of 
France when he ceased to exist. He 
anticipated the reign of Louis XIV. and 
was the model of Colbert. Colbert and 
Sully, — it is pleasing to unite these ho- 
noured names, and by them to date the 
most interesting epochs of our history, 
and perhaps of the history of Europe. 

Both destined to act distinguished 
parts, they rose to power under similar 
circumstances. Sully appeared after the 
horrible depredations of favourites, and 
the disorders of the League. Colbert had 



95 



to repair the evils caused by the enfeebled 
and turbulent reign of Louis XIII. the 
brilliant but artificial operations of Riche- 
lieu, the war of the Fronde, and the dis- 
ordered state of Finance under Mazarin. 
Both found the people burdened with 
taxes, and the King deprived of a consi- 
derable portion of his revenue ; both had 
the good fortune to have to deal with 
Princes who had geniuses adapted to go- 
vernment, anxious for the welfare of the 
state ; who had courage to attempt and 
firmness to maintain it ; equally desirous 
of glory, one of the glory of France, the 
other of his own. Both began by the li- 
quidation of the national debt ; and the 
same necessities led to the adoption of 
similar measures. Both strove to aug- 
ment the public treasure. Both under- 
stood the theory of taxation, but Sully did 
not derive equal advantage from it ; Col- 
bert nicely balanced this system. Each 
diminished the expenditure and abolished 
the shameful traffic of places, which en- 
riched and degraded the Court, and both 



96 



deprived the courtiers of the power of 
farming the revenue. 

Both facilitated the receipts and di- 
minished the profits of the receivers. 
But in all these departments the glory 
of Colbert is only that he imitated Sully 
and revived the laws of this able minister. 
The minister of Louis XIV. by Sully's 
example, secured a fund for each branch 
of expenditure, reduced the interest of 
money, and facilitated internal inter- 
course ; but Colbert made the canal of 
Languedoc, which Sully only planned. 
They both laid on the rich the burdens 
from which they relieved the poor, and 
each are reproached with having checked 
industry by taxation. Credit, that im- 
portant part of public riches, which cir- 
culates its real possessions, and supplies 
its wants, appears not to have been suffi- 
ciently known to Sully, and but little ap- 
plied by Colbert. The excessive pre- 
miums of lenders were abolished by both ; 
but Sully understood better the import-^ 



97 



ance of uniting the resources of the finan- 
cial system with those of commerce and 
agriculture. They both directed their 
attention to the currency, but Sully per- 
ceived only defects, and applied danger- 
ous remedies ; Colbert had in this de- 
partment the advantage of experience 
and that of his age. Both perceived that 
the reform of the Courts of Law would 
influence the national happiness ; but the 
period was calculated for Colbert to exe- 
cute what Sully could only wish. One 
in turbulent times, under a warrior king, 
only hinted to the nation that the sciences 
were worthy of esteem ; the other the 
minister of a King who was magnificent 
even in his literary pleasures, gave the 
world an example too often forgotten, of 
the reward, encouragement, esteem and 
developement of every species of talent. 
Sully found out the utility of the navy, 
and this was much in an age which Mas 
emerging from barbarity. Colbert had 
the glory of creating the navy of France. 
Commerce was protected by both minis- 



98 



ters : but one limited it to the produce of 
agriculture, the other to that of manufac- 
tures. Sully preferred with reason that 
which can neither be divided by other 
nations, or carried away, which insures 
the dependence of foreigners. Colbert 
was not aware that the other species is 
founded on capricious tastes, and that it 
may pass with its manufacturers into any 
other country. Sully therefore surpassed 
Colbert in his knowledge of the real 
sources of commerce ; but Colbert went 
beyond him in care, activity, and political 
calculation in this department. He di- 
minished the customs of the interior, 
which Sully sometimes augmented by his 
ability in combining the imports and ex- 
ports, which is perhaps the nicest calcu- 
lation of a legislator, and in which the 
most trifling error may cost millions to 
the state. It would be difficult to equal 
Colbert in the extensive principles or 
details of commerce: and it would be 
difficult to surpass Sully in the encourage- 
ment he gave to agriculture ; not that 



99 



Colbert entirely neglected this important 
branch. 

Let us not exaggerate the imperfec- 
tions of the great men ; the extreme of 
censure is as absurd as the extreme of 
panegyric. Colbert followed the exam- 
ple of Sully in making the peasantry pros- 
perous : he diminished the land tax, he 
remedied the evils of arbitrary taxation, 
he encouraged by useful regulations the 
improvement of cattle, and encouraged 
population by recompense, but not per- 
mitting the exportation of corn many ad- 
mirable measures failed. There was no 
real prosperity ; the state appeared flou- 
rishing, and the people were wretched ; 
the specie circulated by commerce never 
reached the labouring classes ; the price 
of corn was depreciated till scarcity en- 
sued. Such were the principles and 
measures of these two great men. If we 
now compare their character and talents, 
we shall find that the minds of both were 
just and comprehensive, their projects 



100 

great and executed with order and acti- 
vity. But Sully was perhaps superior in 
seizing the general scheme of government, 
while Colbert excelled in details. One 
had more of the calculation of modern 
policy, the other of the policy of the 
ancient lawgivers, who deduced conse- 
quences from one great principle. The 
plan of Colbert is a vast and complicated 
machine which required constant repair ; 
the plan of Sully was simple and uniform 
like that of nature. Colbert depended 
on men : Sully on things. One created 
resources unknown to France : the other 
employed the resources she possessed. 
The reputation of Colbert is therefore 
more brilliant: that of Sully more solid. 
As to personal qualities each had courage 
and strength of mind, without which no 
great progress can be made either in good 
or evil : but the policy of one was conge- 
nial to the austerity of his morals ; that of 
the other to the luxury of his age. It 
was the melancholy fate of each to be 
hated : one by the great, the other by the 



101 



people. Colbert was accused of harsh- 
ness ; Sully of pride ; but if they had the 
misfortune to displease individuals, they 
were beloved by the nation at large. If 
we examine their conduct in reference to 
the Princes they served, we shall perceive 
that Sully directed his master, but that 
Colbert's governed him ; that the former 
was the popular, the latter the royal 
minister ; from a comparative estimate of 
the talents of the two Sovereigns, we may 
judge that Sully was indebted to Henry 
IV. for a part of his glory, and that Louis 
XIV. owed a considerable portion of his 
to Colbert. 

The character of Sully would be par- 
tially estimated, if any one remained ig- 
norant that his virtues were equal to his 
talents. Why do not my limits permit 
me 'to quote that part of his memoirs, 
where, tracing the portrait of a perfect 
statesman, he expresses all the moral 
qualities he possessed without perceiving 
it! His pure morals, his aversion to 



102 

luxury, that stoical courage which con- 
quers nature: which resists pleasures and 
denies itself every indulgence that can 
enervate the soul. Sully had adopted 
these habits from principle as well as 
character. At Court he continued the 
frugal mode of living which he had ac- 
quired iti camps. The rich voluptuaries 
would have disdained his table ; but 
Gueschin and Bayard would have hecome 
his willing guests. His days were de- 
voted to incessant application. He ap- 
portioned his time to the exigencies of 
the state ; every year bore on its passing 
wings its tribute to his country. Even 
his recreations were of a noble and digni- 
fied character ; they brought repose with- 
out indolence, and pleasure without en- 
feebling luxury. Domestic economy had 
trained his mind to that public economy 
which saved the state. His enemies 
praised his probity. His justice might 
have excited admiration even in a virtuous 
age, his loyalty was conspicuous in a nation 
of rebels. After the death of his master 



103 

they might persecute him* but they never 
could make him a disloyal subject. His 
fidelity was unshaken by the ill treatment 
of the Court, and he rendered services to 
the Queen though she oppressed him. 
When he entered upon his ministerial 
career he feared not to give the na- 
tion an inventory of his possessions, 
and when he retired from office he could 
defy the censures of his age and of poste- 
rity. The bribes tendered to corrupt him 
disgraced only those who offered them. 
As a minister he received no gifts from 
subjects : as a subject he received from 
his master only the recompenses sanc- 
tioned by the laws. We have shewn his 
firmness in duty. France was leagued 
against him to prevent her rescue from 
destruction; he resisted all opposition, 
he had the courage to be hated. Noble 
birth, which never excites vanity except 
in weak minds, inspired him with vir- 
tuous emulation. Never was the high 
principle of honour, the basis of chivalry, 
carried further. Calumny and envy fol- 



104 

lowed of course. He defeated calumny 
by virtue, and bumbled envy by success. 
He avenged himself of his enemies by 
losing no opportunity of doing them 
good. The wicked found him rigid and 
inflexible, the miserable feeling and com- 
passionate. Zealous in religion without 
fanaticism and tolerant without indiffer- 
ence, he was the mediator of the Pro- 
testants with the King and the protector 
of the Catholics ; he was adored at Ge- 
neva and esteemed at Rome. A good 
husband, a good master, a good father of 
a family : he offered to mankind a signal 
example ; he was the friend of a King. 
Oh Henry the Fourth! Oh Sully ! How 
perfect were the reciprocations of your 
hearts ! how consoling the duteous atten- 
tions of your friendship ! With Sully 
Henry forgot his sorrows: to him he 
confided all his vexations. The tears of 
a hero flowed on the bosom of a friend. 
Military frankness and pleasing familiarity 
marked their intercourse ; the distinction 
of King and subject disappeared ; they 



105 

were friends and therefore equals. On 
the part of Sully this tender friendship was 
still courageous and equitable. Through 
the murmur of flattery with which the 
court resounded, Sully made the voice 
of truth to be heard. He had too much 
esteem for Henry and for himself to speak 
any other language. All that would have 
been unworthy of one and would have 
degraded the other was impossible to 
either. Therefore he often ventured to 
displease his master. I shall not particu- 
larise his actions or his words on these 
occasions. There are some which would 
not suit the taste of this corrupted age. 
Weak minds would call them rash ; mean 
spirits might denominate them criminal ; 
but by the virtuous they will ever be held 
in honour. I will only present the sub- 
ject in one light; — the idea of Sully was 
to Henry what the remembrance of the 
Deity is to the just: a check to evil and 
an incitement to virtue. 

Alas ! that a tie so tender, a commerce 



106 

§6 elevating, was to be broken? For 
how short a period was France blessed 
with this King and with this minister. 
Oh ! moment of horror ! when the ear 
of Sully was struck with the fatal sounds — 
the King is assassinated ! the King is 
no more ! when a faithful domestic who 
beheld the regicide placed before him, 
the fatal knife yet reeking with the life 
blood of Henry, when Sully rushed 
through the weeping, shrieking, sobbing 
and groaning populace, and hurried to 
the Louvre, once more to behold and to 
embrace the corpse of his friend, his 
master. He presses to his bosom and 
bathes with his tears the child destined to 
succeed the unfortunate Henry ! We 
may imagine his feelings, when, in this 
house of mourning, this palace in which 
were the remains of the murdered King, 
almost in the very chamber of death, and by 
the light of the funeral torches, he beheld 
the joy of the new court, a joy more ago- 
nising to his soul than if he had beheld 
the knife plunged in the bosom of his 



107 

master, and seen his blood flow. From 
this moment he anticipated the future; 
he perceived that France was struck with 
the blow under which Henry IV. pe- 
rished. Yet he loved the state too well 
to leave it to its new tyrants. He re- 
newed his efforts ; he dared to pronounce 
the names of duty and justice; but cor- 
ruption was arrived at that point when 
the example of a great oian only accumu- 
lates the guilt of his cotemporaries. Un- 
able to avert evil, the only glory that re- 
mained to him was to refuse it his sanction. 
He resigned his employments, quitted 
the court, carrying with him his virtues, 
his services, and the ingratitude of man- 
kind. 

History has described sages in retreat, 
and heroes under oppression, but it offers 
no delineation so imposing as the dignity 
of Sully in retreat. It was the dignity of 
virtue itself, on which men courts and 
kings have no power. The greatness of 
his soul seemed to pervade his dwelling. 



108 

A crowd of domestics, numerous gentle- 
men, attendants and ushers, elegance not 
frivolous, but magnificent: the dignity 
of his style of living, the respect of his 
numerous vassals, the subordination of 
an illustrious family : apartments orna- 
mented with paintings of the heroic ac- 
tions of Henry IV. inseparable from those 
of Sully : the grand simplicity of his 
extensive domains: Sully, gray-headed, 
dressed in the mode of his own times, 
wearing the portrait of Henry IV. next 
his heart, the sacred gravity of his dis- 
course, the majesty of his countenance, 
the elevated seat on which he was placed 
to distinguish him from his children, the 
honourable reception which the aged re- 
ceived from his family, the silence min- 
gled with awe of the young people whom 
their parents brought to behold this great 
man : the whole seemed to present a scene 
above common life, and excited extraor- 
dinary emotions in the hearts of the be- 
holders. How different are these manners 
from our own ! Thus he lived thirty years 






109 

in retreat, without complaining either of 
mankind or their injustice, grieving for 
the loss of his master, faithful to the new 
King, esteemed and hated by Richelieu, 
and having survived all but virtue, which 
accompanied him to the tomb. Death 
terminated a life extended to his eighty- 
second year ; fifty years of his life were 
devoted to the service of the state, and 
the rest might have been equally useful to 
it. 

A mausoleum raised over his ashes, 
has preserved the effigy of this great man ; 
his spirit has been transmitted to us in 
his memoirs : it yet lives in their pages, 
it watches our errors and our crimes: 
it casts a reproving glance on nations, 
governments, and mankind. It instructed 
Colbert, it may yet be a lesson for one of 
those minds which appear in every age. 
The titles and estates of Sully have 
descended to his posterity ; his virtues 
are public property : they belong to who- 
ever will imitate them. Where shall we 



110 

find so brave a spirit? If it exist, let it 
not expect tranquillity or popular favour, 
the idol of weak minds. Let him know 
that a great minister is the victim of the 
state, that to contribute to the real benefit 
of mankind often displeases them. But 
if he be worthy to save his country, he 
will look for other recompense more truly 
valuable; he may like Sully be secure of 
the approbation of his Maker, the witness 
of his own heart, the suffrage of true citi- 
zens, the admiration of great minds, and 
the applause of posterity. 



FINIS, 



J. J. Hadley, Printer, Journal Office, Cheltenham. 

LRBA 



Page 8, line 20, for ' blinded ' read ' blended.' 
Page 10, line 7, for ' succeding ' read ' succeeding.' 
Page 22, line 19, for ' external ' read ' eternal.' 
Page 34, line 16, for ' are ' read * is.' 
Page 77, line 11, for ' aspiring' read ' expiring.' 
Page 93, line 15, after ' mean ' insert « not.' 
Same page, line 21, after ' which ' insert * devotes.' 



